Talk to the hand! For once, a very un-nerdy smartwatch

A lot of the coolest people in fiction have talked into their watches. Dick Tracy. David Hasselhoff in Knight Rider. Even Captain Kirk dabbled with the idea.

So why is it that when I hold a conversation with my watch, people either quietly chortle or actually come out and say: ‘For God’s sake, can you stop that?’ It’s mainly my wife who says the really scathing stuff, of course – but it’s just not what I’d been led to expect.

However, we may all end up in this situation not too long from now. Huawei’s Watch 2 is among the first watches with its own SIM card, which means it doesn’t need to pair with a phone – it actually is one. You can dial people direct from your wrist – although you need a certain strength of character to withstand the sneers of the less technologically advanced.

Huawei’s Watch 2 is among the first watches with its own SIM card, which means it doesn’t need to pair with a phone – it actually is one

The Watch 2 actually looks less nerdy than Apple Watch, courtesy of its round screen. It displays the time constantly in monochrome – but the ‘proper’ display, with fancy coloured faces showing the weather forecast or how many steps you’ve done, pops up when you turn your wrist towards your face.

I tend to do this wrist-turn in a slightly theatrical way, which my wife also finds highly infuriating. Watch 2 is the flagship for Google’s new Android Wear 2 software, and it’s great – the screen’s bright, the battery’s solid, and it’s easy to use.

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Instead of your phone beeping to tell you that something boring has happened on Facebook, your wrist buzzes – so you save about five seconds where you’d normally fish out your phone, think ‘Oh for goodness’ sake,’ then put it back.

It’s an alarmingly capable device, with a heart-rate monitor, GPS and an NFC chip. You can track your route as you go running, pay for your shopping by beeping your wrist, and do Google searches simply by intoning ‘OK Google’ into the handset. It’s just a shame that this generates so many giggles in the background…

The Watch 2 actually looks less nerdy than Apple Watch, courtesy of its round screen